Military Bridge over the Chickahominy, Virginia, 1862

Military Bridge over the Chickahominy, Virginia, 1862. Albumen print of a column of soldiers crossing a wooden bridge over the Chickahominy River in Virginia, by Alexander Gardener (1821-1882) from a negative produced by D B Woodbury (died 1866). The photograph was taken during the Peninsular Campaign of 1862-1863, when a Union army unsuccessfully tried to march on the Confederate capital at Richmond. It is from an album entitled 'Canada and the United States.1867' by John Downes Rochfort. Rochfort visited all the major American Civil War sites in 1867 and some of the photographs he purchased en route have since become some of that war's best-known images. D B Woodbury is regarded as one of the most talented of the photographers who photographed the American Civil War. ©SSPL/National Media Museum